TVA plans emergency response drill
From the Chattanooga Times-Free Press (Monday Jun 20, 2004)
TVA plans emergency response drill this week for Sequoyah plant
By Candice Combs Staff Writer
Chattanooga residents shouldn’t be alarmed Wednesday if they notice emergency vehicles responding to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah Nuclear Plant.
"Every nuclear site has to go through an emergency response test," said Capt. Trey Brannom with the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. "It helps exercise the different parts of an emergency response."
Beginning at 9 a.m., TVA officials will cooperate with local, state and federal safety personnel in a mock emergency at the nuclear plant, according to Chief Ken Wilkerson with Hamilton County Emergency Medical Services.
"We have to practice to make sure everything works," Chief Wilkerson said.
The simulation is meant to improve communications should the area have to be evacuated, Capt. Brannom said. Passersby should expect to see an emergency command center, police cars and possibly firetrucks and ambulances.
"Oftentimes when you have an emergency, the ambulance driver or firefighter knows what to do because he does it everyday," Capt. Brannom said. "The part that doesn’t get exercised on a daily basis are management and coordination. We could have a situation where Bradley County’s fire department needs to talk to Hamilton County schools."
The drill is expected to last most of the day Wednesday.
This story was published Monday, June 21, 2004
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